Only 6 Months Left
Last week I finished up my quarter. There was a lot of work put in, but everything went out with a whimper, no bang at all. Finals are usually due on week 11, but I had my 3D Studio final on week 10. What was supposed to be a 5-10 minute presentation of an entire quarter’s work was actually only 3 minutes due to the fact that we were running out of time. My Pre-Production class ended with a whole mess of problems, but since we have another quarter to work on them (my Production class next quarter) no one really cared. My Character Animation class ended well enough. We basically just showed our pieces, said two things we liked about them and two we didn’t and then moved on. It went very quickly and with quite a lot of apathy. My Intermediate Compositing group project went over pretty well as well. We were definitely the best project, but not the funniest or cutest or anything so we didn’t win the popular vote. Also, we had to take a test in that class. The teacher basically told us right then and there that our project was a definite A project. Also, I got 174 out of 175 questions right on the test, so that’s the only grade I definitely know at this stage. He also pulled me out of class to give me his card and told me that if I ever needed it, he would write me a stellar recommendation. I couldn’t thank him enough for that. The next day, my 3D Studio class took a trip to PDI, the company that does most of the animation for DreamWorks. The tour was very quick, about 1.5-2 hours long and wasn’t very informative. However, it did make me appreciate PDI more. Before I went there, I didn’t think I could ever work for a company that turns out such shit. But then I saw how much stuff they do to develop their tools and so forth and I realized that I could work for them, as long as I distance myself from the final product. Admittedly, it was DreamWorks Animation, not PDI that made most of their shitty films (like Shark’s Tale), but since the two are now basically one entity I wonder what will happen to their next few projects. However, they are with Ardham Studios now (the guys who made Wallace and Gromit) so that’s good. Afterwards, Jan and I went to the portfolio show. I got to see a few of my friends’ work and two of them had some utterly spectacular stuff. Apparently, both of them have interviews with Crystal Dynamics and ILM. Very cool indeed.
Over the weekend we hung out with Elena and her daughter, Alva. We also made some delicious mango coconut sorbet. I’m currently on a one week break, but I’ve been working almost every day. I’m currently teaching myself MEL, the native programming language of Maya. I fixed up my first compositing project. I came up with a rough draft of my portfolio/demo reel and will finalize it early next quarter with my advisor. Also, I have to do something short, simple, and stupid with Career Services before I become a Peer Mentor, a fancy term for a tutor. Although this is a paying job, our tutoring program has been absolutely abysmal so I’m not expecting much pay, just a nice thing to have on my resume. With everything going on I feel oddly confident and happy. I think that if I can pull off everything I’ve set up for myself, I’ll be in a very good place. I don’t know if it will be the greatest demo reel ever, but I’m definitely working my ass off and am putting my best foot forward. That’s the best I can do, right?
Over the weekend we hung out with Elena and her daughter, Alva. We also made some delicious mango coconut sorbet. I’m currently on a one week break, but I’ve been working almost every day. I’m currently teaching myself MEL, the native programming language of Maya. I fixed up my first compositing project. I came up with a rough draft of my portfolio/demo reel and will finalize it early next quarter with my advisor. Also, I have to do something short, simple, and stupid with Career Services before I become a Peer Mentor, a fancy term for a tutor. Although this is a paying job, our tutoring program has been absolutely abysmal so I’m not expecting much pay, just a nice thing to have on my resume. With everything going on I feel oddly confident and happy. I think that if I can pull off everything I’ve set up for myself, I’ll be in a very good place. I don’t know if it will be the greatest demo reel ever, but I’m definitely working my ass off and am putting my best foot forward. That’s the best I can do, right?